Wrapping up investigation into a seven-year-old case of alleged bribery in the `1,150-crore Barak missile deal, the CBI on Tuesday filed a closure report in the case in which former Defence Minister George Fernandes and then Naval Chief Admiral Sushil Kumar were named as accused.
The agency filed the final report before a designated CBI court in Patiala House saying replies received from foreign countries did not substantiate the allegation of kickbacks levelled against the State-run company Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), former Samata Party officials Jaya Jaitley and RK Jain, Fernandes and Kumar.
CBI sources said letters Rogatory (judicial requests) were sent to the UK, UAE, Mauritius, Germany and Israel seeking details of financial transactions and other details of accused persons involved in the case.
In its reply to letter Rogatory, Israel denied making any payments to clinch the deal. The country also refused to give any further details citing confidentiality. Replies from other countries also did not corroborate allegations levelled against IAI and other accused mentioned in the FIR, the CBI said.
During the probe here, the CBI said it did not find any evidence on the allegations levelled during the sting operation carried out by Tehelka.
The sources said a decision was taken to close the case as there was no way that any headway could be made in the probe.
The agency had filed an FIR on October 10, 2006 alleging that a sum of `2 crore was paid to Jaitley, who acted as an ‘agent’ to clinch the deal to buy seven Barak anti-missile defence (AMD) systems from the Isaraeli firm. Jaya Jaitley was then the president of Samata Party.
Jain, who was then treasurer of the Samata Party and was also named in the FIR, received a bribe of several lakhs, the CBI alleged.
The CBI had alleged that Kumar “colluded with other accused to put up a note” to Fernandes to import the Barak systems despite objections from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Fernandes not only approved the proposal for import of Barak AMD Systems but tried to get the proposal approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security despite objection by the then Defence Secretary, the CBI had alleged in its FIR.
The closure report comes a day after the Government cleared a proposal for acquisition of 262 Barak missiles for `880 crore.